


The Notion of Divorce

by weekend_conspiracy_theorist



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Gen, allusion to the consent issues inherent during pon farr (regarding both parties)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-11
Updated: 2018-01-11
Packaged: 2019-03-03 13:53:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13342608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weekend_conspiracy_theorist/pseuds/weekend_conspiracy_theorist
Summary: Spock Prime offers some advice.





	The Notion of Divorce

**Author's Note:**

> there isn't much to this fic in the way of plot or even dialogue; it is, I suppose, something of a character study, the product of my working through some thoughts re: t'pring. I debated whether or not to post it on ao3 at all, honestly

The man is not Spock. He is too old, his smile too easy, his presence too calm. And yet her mind–reaches out.

The low level, tertiary bond she and Spock have maintained since childhood stretches towards this man in recognition of his thoughts, and T'Pring rises from her desk, her head tilted at a curious 30°. His smile, hidden in the corners of his lips, twitches into something visable even to a human, just for an instant.

“You should pursue divorce,” he declares, apropos of nothing.

She has, of course, previously considered the notion. Neither she nor Spock has ever found the idea of their impending marriage anything more than convenient at best, and T'Pring will admit privately to a seething sort of rage that grows in her chest regarding the way her work and her accomplishments will become secondary to her marriage, in light of the famed exploits Spock has engaged in since becoming First Officer of Starfleet’s flagship. But the process of divorce in Vulcan society- unless one or the other of the parties involved is actively in the middle of pon farr- is painstaking and slow, as well as requiring Spock’s extended presence upon the planet in order for the link between their minds to be unwoven.

In light of the recent decimation of their people, such legal action is likely to be even further convoluted.

“You should explain your presence in my office, as well as the relevance of your opinion in regards to my marital status,” T'Pring responds, just shy of tart. She feels her mind pressing against the inside of her skull, and knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that the answer to each question is essentially the same.

Spock- and he is wiser and more settled into his skin than T'Pring could ever have imagined him capable of being- raises an eyebrow and echoes her thoughts. “You are far too intelligent not to already know the answers to those questions.”

She tilts her head 3 degrees further, studying the lines of his face as he waits patiently for response, and considers and discards a variety of queries such as “How have you come here?”, “What happened in your universe that you feel it so important to encourage our separation?”, and “Will he be able to survive his time without an existing bondmate?”

The former serves no purpose but to feed her curiosity, and T'Pring can hypothesize the answers to the rest.

(She imagines Spock, deep in the throes of fever and barbarism by the time his ship returns him to her, and what blooms in her chest, unshown on her face but acknowledged in her mind, is a shiver of dread. Perhaps it makes her a coward; nonetheless, she does not know if she would be willing to save his life, not when the gentleness of his heart- his hands- had long since been burned away by biological need.

Divorcing Spock if there is only a small possibility of his finding another bondmate is no crueler than remaining tied to him, given that T'Pring does not know to what lengths she would go to protect herself from his touch.)

T'Pring had hoped- and she knows Spock had as well- that his human heritage would spare them both the trauma of pon farr; this man’s presence in her office tells her otherwise.

“I will need him here,” she says at last. “Please make the arrangements.”


End file.
